Mobile

The Case for No iPhone Case

The iPhone’s beautiful design revolutionized the mobile industry, but as any klutz knows, beauty can be fleeting. A sweaty grasp or one drink too many, and your high-tech work of art shatters into a kaleidoscope of tiny glass shards.

Enter the juggernaut case market, which generated $2.2 billion in sales over the past 12 months — a 42% increase from the same period the year before, says Ben Arnold, analyst at the NPD Group. Perhaps that growth explains why Apple got in the game this release season with its Croc-like and leather cases, which it marketed as heavily as the new iPhones themselves.

Despite Apple’s stab at the market share, however, there is one group Apple can't count on as case customers: its own devotees.

“Keeping your iPhone in its most minimalist state is always preferred in design circles,” says Shayna Kulik, brand strategist and founder of trend forecasting site Pattern Pulp.

Granted, the minimalists are hardly the majority: according to casemaker Otterbox’s internal and external research, the number of people who forego cases is as low as 15% of all owners.

So who is this creative cult potentially sacrificing hundreds of dollars or more for the sleek look and feel of their case-free iPhone? For one, they seem to worship at the altar of Apple.

Angel Jimenez de Luis tries to collect every iPhone he’s ever owned in its original packaging.

“The iPhone showed the world that you can make a mass market luxurious item, and that good industrial design can elevate such a utilitarian and practical object as the phone,” says Luis, a New York-based tech writer for the Spanish daily El Mundo. “It’s not easy to create a beautiful object. It's a shame to hide it behind a case when you find one.”

For this loyal fan base, the iPhone is not something just to be used; it's meant to be experienced.

"Great product design deserves to be experienced as is — not with a bumper and boundaries around it,” says Brian Kalma, president at high-tech business wear startup Ministry of Supply. "I’m not buying a phone so it doesn’t break. I’m buying a phone because I want to use it; I want to feel it; I want to experience the product. That’s what’s so special particularly about Apple products."

To Kalma and others like him, the iPhone is more than a status symbol — it’s an objet d'art.

Self-described “alpha geek” Kane Hsieh says the iPhone is a masterpiece. “Apple’s design is led by Jony Ive, who’s almost worshiped as a visionary," says the computer science Harvard grad, who’s also an analyst at early-stage venture capital firm RRE Ventures. "Buying a beautiful iPhone and putting a case on it is like buying a piece of art, putting it on your wall, and then putting a sheet over it so it doesn’t get dusty. Without a case, you can appreciate the aluminum backing, the sapphire lens, and the way the buttons are laser cut.”

Kalma equates his iPhone to his Mercedes and says he would never dream of covering either. "Obviously the iPhone is much cheaper than my two-door Mercedes, but they’re in the same class in regards to innovative, interesting design and technology," he says. "I’m going to take my car out of the garage even if it’s going to get a dent. I’d like to experience my phone in a similar manner."

In fact, many have trouble explaining the appeal without describing the caseless experience as something ... well, sensual.

“Ultimately, breakage is a risk I’m willing to take," Hsieh says. "That’s the cost of being able to hold the phone in my hand — it’s hard to say this without sounding sexual — and to run my hands over the aluminum backing and all over the phone. It’s a beautiful piece of industrial design."

To wit, the scuffing of an iPhone is a point of pride akin to most high-end items that have seen their share of wear and tear. Jimenez de Luis says scuff marks simply add character to the phone, the way scratches and dents might an old pocket watch.

“Short of catastrophic damage, the nicks on the phone personalize it for me, like brassing on Leica cameras," Hsieh says. "It becomes my phone."

And for a niche group that buys a new iPhone with every release, the risk of damage seems somewhat more tolerable. For a decidedly luxe object, even its own proponents consider the gadget disposable after a year or two.

“I'll get a new iPhone every two years. How scratched can it get?” says fellow anti-caser Arseny Lebedev, founder of gaming company Signus Labs.

If sporting no case broadcasts your carefree lifestyle and design savvy, what then does a case say about you?

“It's like wearing a helmet while biking. Sure, it's safe — but it just doesn't look as good,” says Ryan Matzner, director of strategy at Fueled, an award-winning design and development company.

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